The Uncertain Fate Of Rights And Freedoms In Afghanistan

Afghanistan's constitution provides for a unitary state with a directly elected president, significant parliamentary checks, and a wide range of rights guaranteed to citizens. However, in practice, these rights are severely restricted, particularly for women and girls, and minority groups such as the Hazaras. The Taliban's takeover of Kabul in 2021 has resulted in increasing restrictions on women's rights and freedoms, with women banned from most public spaces and employment, and girls prohibited from receiving an education beyond primary school level. There have also been reports of human rights abuses by the Taliban, including public executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, and forced evictions of minority groups from their lands. The ongoing turmoil, violence, and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan make it difficult to get an accurate sense of the situation, but it is clear that the country has a very long way to go before it can be said to meet the needs of basic human rights for its citizens.

Women's rights

Pre-1979: Women Enjoy Broad Freedoms

Before 1979, Afghan women enjoyed a level of freedom comparable to women in other countries. They gained the right to vote in 1919, before women in the US, and the first school for girls opened in 1920. Through the 1960s, women's rights were expanded, and greater equality was emphasised in the 1964 Constitution.

1996 to 2001: First Taliban Rule

When the Taliban first came to power in 1996, they imposed severe restrictions on women's rights. Women and girls were barred from attending school, working, leaving the house without a male chaperone, and speaking publicly. They were forced to wear full-body coverings when in public and were subjected to violence and human rights abuses.

2001 to August 2021: Taliban Ousted, Progress for Women

After the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban were ousted, and women's rights gradually improved. Girls attended school, women had jobs, and their rights were enshrined in the 2004 Constitution. Afghanistan had its first female cabinet ministers in the 1960s, and in 2020, Afghan women were allowed to include their names on their children's birth certificates and identification cards.

August 2021: The Taliban Returns

In August 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, and women's rights were once again severely restricted. Women were banned from attending secondary school and university, working in most sectors, and entering public spaces like parks and gyms. They were forced to cover themselves from head to toe in public and were not allowed to leave the house without a male chaperone.

Current Situation

The current Taliban regime has imposed further restrictions on women's rights. In 2022, women were barred from universities and working for NGOs. In 2023, they were banned from working for the United Nations, and in 2024, the Taliban reinstated flogging and stoning for women as punishment. Women's rights activists in Afghanistan continue to face serious threats and severe reprisals for their work.

Freedom of expression

Afghanistan's constitution provides for a unitary state, headed by a directly elected president, with significant checks from the parliament and a wide range of rights guaranteed to citizens. However, in practice, political rights and civil liberties are curtailed by violence, corruption, patronage, and flawed electoral processes.

Article 34 of the Afghan Constitution allows for freedom of speech and press, although there are restrictions on media that may invoke Islamic law or be offensive to other sects. Despite this, there has been harassment and threats targeting journalists and legal experts, especially outside of Kabul.

The country has a vibrant media sector, with multiple outlets in print, radio, and television that collectively carry a wide range of views and are generally uncensored. Media providers include independent and commercial firms, as well as a state broadcaster and outlets tied to specific political interests. However, journalists face the threat of harassment and attack by the Islamic State (IS) militant group, the Taliban, and government-related figures attempting to influence how they are covered in the news.

The Taliban's restrictive new media policy has prevented independent, objective, international media sources from airing their programming in the country. Media outlets such as the Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Deutsche Welle have been affected by this.

The US government has expressed concern over the Taliban's decision to stifle the Afghan people's access to independent media, urging them to cease these infringements on the rights of Afghans.

The space for freedom of expression and media continues to shrink drastically. Dozens of journalists have been arbitrarily arrested and harassed for reports critical of the Taliban or violating Taliban rules. Between the Taliban takeover in August 2021 and August 2023, more than half of the registered media outlets closed, and two-thirds of all journalists left their jobs.

Repression of those who expressed views critical of the Taliban has continued, including against people who expressed their criticisms via social media.

Freedom of religion

Afghanistan's constitution provides for a unitary state, headed by a directly elected president, with significant checks from the parliament and a wide range of rights guaranteed to citizens. However, the human rights situation in Afghanistan is extremely poor, with the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in August 2021 severely restricting the rights of citizens, particularly women.

The country's constitution protects the religious freedom of religious minorities, with Article 2 stating:

> Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of the law.

However, in practice, the situation is very different. Religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan have "drastically deteriorated" since the Taliban seized power, with the militants reintroducing "harsh restrictions" based on their hardline interpretation of Islam. The Taliban's imposition of their narrow interpretation of Sunni Islam on all of society poses a grave threat to Afghans who interpret Islam differently, follow a different faith, or choose to have no faith at all.

The Taliban's actions have particularly impacted religious minorities, including Shia Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Ahmadiyya, and Ismaili, who have faced increasing marginalization, prejudice, and discrimination, and forced evictions. The Taliban have also failed to protect religious minorities from attacks by Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), with the group repeatedly carrying out suicide bombings and other armed attacks against Shia communities, in particular, the ethnic Hazara. The Hazara, a predominantly Shia ethnic group, have faced discrimination and abuse by successive Afghan governments for over a century.

The Taliban's strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, has also impacted the rights of Afghans to live according to their own conceptions of their religious faiths. The group has banned various activities by men and women, citing Sharia, including prohibiting unrelated men and women from appearing in public together or going to parks and restaurants.

The situation for Christians in the country has also grown more perilous, with the Taliban going door-to-door, seeking out individuals who practiced religions other than Islam. Christian converts have reported receiving threatening telephone calls, and fear of such punishment has driven Christian converts into hiding.

The Baha'i community has also been forced to live in secret since 2007 after a fatwa was issued against them, declaring their faith blasphemous.

Overall, the Taliban's rule has had a devastating impact on religious freedom in Afghanistan, with the group imposing harsh restrictions on the rights of Afghans to practice their faiths and live according to their beliefs.

Right to education

Afghanistan's constitution provides for a unitary state headed by an elected president, with a wide range of rights guaranteed to citizens. One of these rights is the right to education.

Article 43 of the constitution states that education is the right of all citizens of Afghanistan and should be provided free of charge by the state up to the secondary level. The state is also obliged to devise and implement effective programs for a balanced expansion of education across the country, and to provide compulsory intermediate-level education. The state is also required to provide the opportunity to teach native languages in the areas where they are spoken.

Despite these provisions, Afghanistan's education system has been devastated by over three decades of sustained conflict. For many of the country's children, completing primary school remains a distant dream, especially in rural areas and for girls. In the poorest and most remote areas, enrolment levels vary, and girls still lack equal access. An estimated 3.7 million children are out of school in Afghanistan, 60% of whom are girls.

Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the education system has been hit hard, and the right to education for Afghan children and youth, especially girls and women, is at stake. Since 23 March 2022, 1.1 million secondary girls have been prevented from attending secondary school until further notice. Since 20 December 2022, the Taliban have banned women from universities, denying access to higher education to more than 100,000 young women.

The ban on girls' and women's education is not a new phenomenon in Afghanistan. During the Taliban's initial rule between 1996 and 2001, women and girls were also denied their right to education. Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world that bans education for women over the age of eleven.

The denial of the right to education has far-reaching consequences. UN experts have stated that:

> "Denying this right to half the population effectively denies women and girls most other human rights."

Since the ban on girls' education was imposed, rates of child marriage and child labour have increased, as have reports of children being medicated to overcome hunger and even dying from malnutrition.

Right to a fair trial

Afghanistan's constitution provides for a directly elected president and a wide range of rights guaranteed to citizens. However, the country's human rights record is poor, especially since the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in 2021.

The right to a fair trial is recognised as a fundamental human right internationally, and countries are required to respect it. A fair trial is conducted "fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge".

In Afghanistan, the right to a fair trial is enshrined in the country's constitution, which states that all citizens are innocent until proven guilty. However, in practice, this right is often undermined. For example, accused people are often treated as criminals before they have had their day in court.

The country's judiciary continued to be underfunded, understaffed, inadequately trained, and subject to threats, bias, political influence, and pervasive corruption. There is also a widespread shortage of judges, especially in insecure areas, leading to many cases being adjudicated through informal, traditional mediation.

The Taliban, which controls portions of the country, has imposed its own justice system based on a strict interpretation of Sharia law. Punishments include execution, mutilation, beatings, amputations, and flogging. The Taliban's courts reportedly lack the minimum requirements for a fair trial, with untrained judges making swift decisions and no provision for legal counsel for defendants. Confessions are often made under torture.

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) was developed in 2002 to assist in the development and enforcement of basic human rights in the country. However, despite these efforts, Afghanistan still has a long way to go before it can be said to meet the needs of basic human rights.

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